Wednesday, May 30, 2007

I emailed Faber and Faber with my review of K O Dahl's The Fourth Man and enquired in passing as to whether they planned to translate any more. I'm pleased to report that two more are in the pipeline beginning with 'The Man in the Window' next March. Using my trusty online Norwegian-English translator and poring over K O Dahl's website, I make this the third in the Gunnarstranda and Frolich series whereas 'The Fourth Man' is the fifth...

"...Mark reports on Dali & Film, a major exhibition which focuses on the long relationship between the controversial surrealist and the cinema. Mark also discusses the events surrounding the sudden death of Pope John Paul I with Roger Crane, writer of a new play called The Last Confession, and David Suchet, who takes the role of Cardinal Benelli."

Monday, May 28, 2007

The Euro Crime band of reviewers doing sterling work over on the reviews page on the website could do with some help as the requests for reviews are coming thick and fast via email and the letter box. So if you're in the UK and fancy reviewing the occasional (or more!) book, do pop over to the website, have a look round and drop me an email. (NB. Euro Crime just covers British and European crime fiction.)

Sunday, May 27, 2007

This week's new reviews on Euro Crime; Carla McKay's May column includes reviews of 'The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction' by Barry Forshaw, 'Season of the Witch' by Natasha Mostert, 'The 50/50 Killer' by Steve Mosby, 'The Lying Tongue' by Andrew Wilson and 'The Unquiet' by John Connolly; it took me a while to get into, but I did enjoy K O Dahl's The Fourth Man, set in a wintry Oslo; Pat Austin reviews another book written by a Brit but set in the US, Michael Marshall's The Intruders, which has a touch of the woo-woo about it apparently and Maxine Clarke wished that The Sky Blue Parcel by John Nightingale had been edited down to its potential.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Synopsis:"Just as the dust from the case of the White Bulldog begins to settle in the small Russian town of Zavolzhsk, it is shaken up once again by the arrival of a stranger: this time, a desperately frightened monk from the island monastery of New Ararat, who seeks the help of the bishop, Mitrofanii. The monks have been troubled by visions of a dark, hooded figure: a figure that appears to walk on the waters of the vast Blue Lake surrounding their monastery and strikes terror into the hearts of all who encounter it. Sceptical of ghost stories and dismissive of rural superstitions, Mitrofanii dispatches Alexei Lentochkin, his clever young ward, to investigate the mystery, only for Lentochkin himself to appear to fall victim to the phantom. With sightings of the Black Monk occurring with disturbing frequency, and rumours of suspicious deaths reaching his ears, the Bishop decides to send two more of his most trusted advisors, in turn, to New Ararat, but they too meet with unexpected fates. Finally, Sister Pelagia takes matters into her own hands, and, adopting a number of ingenious disguises, she ventures across the Blue Lake in search of answers, and in pursuit of the Black Monk. But as she delves deeper into the layers of secrecy that cloak the island and its strange population, and as the body count continues to rise, Pelagia begins to realise that an encounter with a ghost may be the least of her problems."

If you fancy sampling it, a 30 page PDF extract can be downloaded here.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

The new reviews went up a bit early this week as later today I'm off to the Isle of Wight for a few days. The cats have been rounded up and taken to the cattery where the ladies have fallen for the kitten, currently known as Ginger, pending a better name. 'Morse' was in the running but has fallen out of favour.

After finishing 'Corn Dolls' by Patrick Lennon last night, it took me the usual ages to choose the one book to take on holiday - we're taking the bikes again so luggage/weight restrictions apply - and though I fancied something fairly light(!) I decided to go with 'Calling Out For You' by Karin Fossum, as once I've read that I can go onto the arc of 'Black Seconds' which is out in July. This is the first one of hers I've actually read, as opposed to listen to. I can faintly hear the voice of narrator David Rintoul in my head as I read.

I should be back blogging on Friday night after calming the cats down.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

This week's new reviews on Euro Crime; Sunnie Gill reviews the eighth in the Charlie Peace series by Robert Barnard, A Fall from Grace, and finds it lacking in the detecting and closure departments; Diana Bane calls Good Night, My Darling by Inger Frimansson, one of her best reads of 2007; Maxine Clarke reviews the newly released paperback of Borkmann's Point by Hakan Nesser and like myself finds the ending a bit disappointing and Terry Halligan praises the psychological thriller All She Ever Wanted by Patrick Redmond.

I've just seen on amazon.co.uk that the next offering from the 'incomparable' Fred Vargas is 'The Eternal Forest' out in January 2008.

Synopsis:On the edge of Paris, two men have had their throats cut. Adamsberg's investigation brings him into contract with the pathologist Amane Lagarde, someone he had come up against twenty-five years previously. A new lieutenant appears hostile to him, and what is more, he is from a neighbouring village in the Pyrenees. He helps out Camille by babysitting their son, but fears she may have found someone else. "The Eternal Forest" is the finest novel yet from the wonderful Fred Vargas.

For once, the English title is similar to the original French title - 'Dans les Bois Éternels' (and is mercifully shorter to type than this year's Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand). You can read more about 'The Eternal Forest' (in French) here and you can check out the order of the earlier books and the English/French titles on the Euro Crime website.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Guy Ritchie's film career hasn't been too hot of late so let's hope that his next offering, RocknRolla, sees a return to form. According to Empire Movies:

The low-budget project, which Ritchie wrote, is said to be in the same vein as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. In the movie, a Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal, putting millions of dollars up for grabs and attracting all of London's criminal underworld. A dangerous crime lord, a sexy accountant, a corrupt politician and a band of petty thieves are among those double-crossing one another. Casting is currently underway. Shooting is expected to begin this summer.

Won by Mark Billingham in 2005 and Val McDermid in 2006, the award longlist once again features an eclectic mix of big names such as PD James and Ruth Rendell as well as aspiring new writers, spanning crime novels across the genre, from historical and police procedural to psychological. Look out for profiles on all books in the coming weeks but if you've already decided your favourite - don't forget to vote now!

I was web browsing on Tuesday night trying to find out if there was a new Dick Francis novel out this year. I found it on both Amazons - Dead Heat out in September, co-written with son Felix - but so far I've not found anything more about it other than a reference to it in on a racing page.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Series 3 of New Tricks was released on DVD on Monday. The current online price is around £15. This series, like Waking the Dead, looks at cold cases but this time the investigators are retired policeman. The cast includes James Bolam and Dennis Waterman.

One-time muse to fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, Sara Stockbridge's HAMMER, set in 1880s Whitechapel, the story of a matriarch and jewel thief, who is forced to go on the run when an early crime finally catches up with her, to Jill Bialosky at Norton, in a two-book deal, by Jane Gelfman at Gelfman Schneider, and to Clara Farmer at Chatto & Windus, by Vivienne Schuster at Curtis Brown. Translation rights are represented by Curtis Brown UK.

Looking up Sara Stockbridge in Wikipedia it seems she's a model and actress as well as a writer.

New dramas for 2007-08 on the NBC schedule are Journeyman, a new Monday night series which NBC's Reilly said received some of the highest scores in internal testing the network has seen "in years"; Chuck, a comedic spy-thriller from The O.C.'s Josh Schwartz; Bionic Woman, a remake of the classic 1970s series starring ex-EastEnder Michelle Ryan; Life, a new crime drama starring Damian Lewis as a "complex" and "offbeat" detective; and Lipstick Jungle, a dramedy following the story of fashion magazine editor Nico, played by 24's Kim Raver.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Ian Rankin's serial novel, 'Doors Open' begins today in the New York Times. (NYT registration is free). You can also listen to Ian Rankin reading the first chapter.

A collated and expanded version of 'Doors Open' will be published in October 2008 - from The Evening News in March:

"But for Rankin fans, there will be a novel published in 2008. "In January, I wrote a novella about a heist in Edinburgh for the New York Times - I wanted to call it Ocean's Terminal 11 - but they didn't see the joke. It was great fun - a new character, lighter crime. Luckily this novella can be published in the UK next year so I'll flesh it out and publish it then."

This week's new reviews on Euro Crime; Maxine Clarke now knows what all the fuss about Andrea Camilleri is after reading The Shape of Water; Geoff Jones continues his appreciation of Natasha Cooper's Trish Maguire series as he reviews her eighth outing in A Greater Evil; Yvonne Klein is charmed by the sternly named Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie (the UK edition title is the more friendly 'Medicus and the Disappearing Dancing Girls') and I was amused and entertained by The Last Resort by Carmen Posadas.

Veteran British crime writer John Harvey has been awarded the 2007 Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger. The award was presented by M. Arnaud Bamberger, Managing Director of Cartier UK, at a ceremony which took place at the Savoy Hotel on May 9th.

The CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger is awarded for sustained excellence in the genre of crime writing, with the recipient being selected by crime writers on the CWA Committee. John joins an illustrious list of previous winners, including PD James, Ruth Rendell, John Le Carré, Ed McBain, Elmore Leonard, Dick Francis, Colin Dexter and Ian Rankin.

Robert Richardson, former Chair of the CWA, said ‘John Harvey continues a line that began in 1985 with the great Eric Ambler, and is another glittering name among winners of the Cartier Diamond Dagger, representing the very best of crime writing both in Britain and America. The Crime Writers’ Association, in whose gift the Dagger is, has again recognised an outstanding talent.’

John Harvey said ‘It is obviously a great honour to accept this award, particularly as it comes from my fellow writers. I had been dreaming of retirement, and a small holding in Cornwall, but I fear this award might serve to delay that move for that much longer.’

JOHN HARVEY has been described as ‘one of the masters of British crime fiction’ by the Sunday Telegraph, and ‘one of the leading writers of crime fiction alive today’ by Le Monde. He was born in 1938 in north London, where, after several lengthy sojourns in Nottingham, he continues to live. Like many successful writers, he learned his trade writing pulp fiction – including many westerns. He has close to one hundred published titles to his credit and his latest, Gone to Ground was published by William Heinemann in February 2007.

Ash and Bone by John Harvey has been long-listed for the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel Of The Year 2007. Short-listed titles will be decided by a public vote, via voting forms available in stores and online at www.waterstones.com

The last paragraph is of particular interest as I haven't seen any mention before to this year's Crime Novel of the Year and wasn't sure it was actually going ahead given it was driven by Ottakars. Looks like it is though.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

We found this little fellow in a country lane yesterday as we were out cycling. Having checked at the infrequent houses nearby and later with the vets, it seems nobody is missing him. We conclude, that sadly, he's been abandoned. He's housetrained, rather vocal and about 3 months old. We're currently fostering him but I imagine he'll be added to our existing complement of four mature cats :-). Currently un-named, here are some bad photos of this little cutie:

Last Week's Lovereading.co.uk Top Ten Downloads------------------------------------------------------------1. The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris2. Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin3. The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory4. Relentless by Simon Kernick5. Four Play by Fiona Walker6. More Than Love Letters by Rosy Thornton7. When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson8. Buried by Mark Billingham9. The Hat Shop on the Corner by Marita Conlon-McKenna10. Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Stumbling around on the web as you do, I came across a competition on Anne Perry's website. You have to identify the source of the passage quoted to be in with a chance of winning the book it came from.

It appears to be open to all, six copies up for grabs and closing date is 31st May.

Dan Waddell's THE BLOOD DETECTIVE, the first in a new mystery series featuring a genealogist as part of the investigative team of a series of murders in London, linked to a another set of murders committed more than 100 year prior, and BLOOD ATONEMENT, to Daniela Rapp at Minotaur.

According to the Guardian's mini profile - "Dan Waddell is the author of Who Do You Think You Are?, the book accompanying the BBC TV series of the same name. His crime novel about genealogy is to be published by Penguin."

Does anyone else hoard the last few books/last book of their favourite author? I'm almost as bad with tv programmes. I finally watched the last Life on Mars episode the other night but I haven't brought myself to watch the final Stargate episodes (even though there are two tv films being made at the moment).

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

I've put up the new competitions for May on the Euro Crime website. There are some geographical restrictions but there is also a special DVD competition for US residents. Some time ago I ran a contest for a box set of Proof, an Irish drama. This month we're giving away five copies of the newly released Proof: Prescription for Murder and throwing in a copy of the original Series 1 box set to go with it.

I've had an email from the promoter of the event and the talk is likely to include Minette Walters speaking about "how she became interested in murder and violence, where she gets inspiration for her books and why she is intrigued by 'ordinary' characters facing situations of trauma that lead to responses that surprise not only the readers but the characters themselves."

Minette has been described as the Queen of British Crime Fiction and her work has been translated into 26 languages. Her first novel THE ICE HOUSE won the CWA John Creasey Award in 1992, her second THE SCULPTRESS won the Edgar Allan Poe Award and the third THE SCOLD'S BRIDLE the CWA Gold Dagger Award.

Dr Cleo Van Velsen is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy. She is also an Adult Psychoanalyst. She works fulltime in the NHS being based in a medium secure unit in inner-city London . She is interested in the understanding and treatment of men and women who commit acts of violence. Linked to this is her interest in the way that violence can be understood through film, novels, etc. She is a co-editor of a textbook on Forensic Psychotherapy and contributing editor to the recent Edinburgh International Encyclopaedia of Psychoanalysis.